Hmmm. I find your post interesting. At what stage of expertise do you feel a person is ready to take this stuff on? Personally I have learned more about Linux on my Empeg then I did on the box I set up with Mandrake. To me it is a perfect platform for learning the basics. What other systems could you make unrecoverable errors on and get the system back up and running in 10 minutes? For me it is not only a toy but a learning platform. I am not at risk of losing my music as it is backed up on both my PC and another Empeg. I think anyone who knows the risks and can rebuild their system is ready to experiment and learn. I've always found the members of this site to be very helpful and forthcoming with information. I have done the same with what little I know and as my knowledge increases I will give it back in what little ways I can.